Terrorism

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TERRORISM - PAGE 5

Late last year the Illinois General Assembly passed some post-Sept. 11 legislation that, among other things, created a new state crime of terrorism that would qualify for the death penalty. This week, Gov. George Ryan said, in effect, this was too much of a good thing. He intends to strip the death penalty provision out of the bill through an amendatory veto. The governor risks the accusation of being not just soft on crime, but soft on terrorism. And, no surprise, some law-and-order legislators are crying just that.

ISTANBUL, April 21 (Reuters) - Syria's main opposition National Coalition said on Sunday it firmly rejected "all forms of terrorism" and vowed that weapons it attains would not fall into the wrong hands. In a declaration outlining its vision of a post-Assad Syria and issued following a "Friends of Syria" meeting with Western and Arab backers, the coalition said it would not allow acts of revenge against any group in Syria. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny and Nick Tattersall; Editing by Paul Simao)

President Reagan has stated he supports negotiating with Yasser Arafat as long as the Palestinian leader renounces terrorism. This is as good a time as any for Mr. Reagan also to renounce terrorism through support of the contras in Nicaragua. Senators Paul Simon and Claiborne Pell, Speaker of the House Jim Wright and others in Congress have long called the rebels "terrorists." Indeed, their terrorist acts have continued even during the declared truce. Recently, a 38-year-old rancher, coming from a meeting to arrange shipping of meat to the victims of the recent hurricane, was ambushed in his car, with others.

By James B. Kelleher CHICAGO, July 2 (Reuters) - Three men accused of plotting to fire-bomb high-profile targets during the NATO summit in Chicago this spring pleaded not guilty on Monday to terrorism charges. Brent Betterly, 24, Jared Chase, 27, and Brian Church, 20, are accused in an 11-count indictment of a variety of terrorism-related offenses, including conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to commit arson and possession of explosives. Prosecutors say the men were caught building Molotov cocktails -- crude gasoline bombs -- they planned to use against a number of buildings in the city, including President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters, during the summit in May of the NATO military alliance.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran on Friday rejected a U.S. State Department report that accused Tehran of increasing its support for terrorism overseas to levels not seen for two decades, saying it is the United States that backs terrorists in the Middle East. "Iran itself has been the victim of state-sponsored terrorism, which has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Iranian people," said Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for Iran's U.N. mission. "Iran has been actively engaged in counterterrorism activities by all possible means and is a party to many counterterrorism international legal instruments," he said.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 30 years in prison for a Chicago businessman who supported a Pakistani terrorist group and its aborted plot to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. In one of Chicago's most significant terrorism trials, a federal jury convicted Tahawwur Rana in June 2011 of helping a childhood friend plot the attack by giving him cover as an employee of his immigration business to scout the newspaper office in Copenhagen.

It was with a sense of sadness that I read the Sept. 16 issue of the Chicago Tribune Magazine ["Clearing the Air"]. Even with the newspaper's Page 2 disclaimer [that the issue was preprinted] and Bill Ayers' statement that we should not judge what happened 30 years ago by recent events, it is hard to overlook the fact that Ayers engaged in terrorism in an effort to violently overthrow our government. In retrospect, he obviously feels no responsibility for his part, however small, in making terrorism an acceptable arm of political action.

* Arrests part of parallel investigation with U.S. authorities * Network suspected of exporting narcotic qat to north America * Qat trade seen as funding source for militant groups (Adds background, details) LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - British police said on Tuesday they had arrested seven people on suspicion of financing terrorism overseas and money laundering through the illegal export of the narcotic qat to north America. Six men and one woman were held in early morning raids in London, the Welsh capital Cardiff and in Coventry in the English midlands, police said.